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Wonder Woman: Movie Review

Leading up to the Wonder Woman movie, I wasn’t too enthused about the latest DC offering. I was too depressed by the darkness in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman to be excited about yet another DC offering. However, since I picked up some rave reviews about the latest installment to the DC franchise, my interest was piqued. I couldn’t say that the reviews were entirely right, but I couldn’t disagree with them fully either.

Synopsis: Wonder Woman revolves around how Diana Prince (Gal Gadot), an Amazon princess, daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus came to the world of man and chose to live among the mortals and become their immortal defender. While the film kicks off in the modern day, its entirety was a flashback to time time of the World War when a British spy and pilot Capt. Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) managed to accidentally break through the protective veil of Themysceira and bring with him an army of German soliders who wreak havoc on the Amazon paradise. Diana eventually goes with Steve to face off with the God of War Ares, who has orchestrated the great war. As Wonder Woman’s story is fleshed out, fans of the DC franchise will be able to get fuller context of the Dawn of Justice film.

First off, a great big congratulations to DC for finally coming out with a film that was not dark and depressing but rather a blend of entertaining and serious. Wonder Woman was so fun to watch despite the subject of war because it revolved around an empowered woman showing the world what women are capable of.

Because of her superpowers and her fighting skills, Wonder Woman was at the forefront of the battle, leading the charge as her back up, comprised of her love interest Steve, a con artist Sameer (Said Taghmaoui), war shocked sniper Charlie (Ewem Bremner) and smuggler Chief (Eugene Brave Rock) supported her crusade.

Wonder Woman was a wonder in terms of visuals, fight sequences and Gal Gadot is just so gorgeous. She had such a beautiful face and a body that was perfectly toned for battle. She excelled as the lead of this DC franchise and did her predecessors proud in introducing a new generation to WW’s awesomeness.

I loved the comical parts when Wonder Woman surprised people with her strength and abilities and thought that Steve really had a handful with her combative attitude. However, there were really parts of the film where I was super annoyed at Diana for being stubborn and uncompromising.

Her self righteousness was justifiable given her background but there were times where she crossed the line to being outright judgmental when Steve gave her no reason to. True, she needed to push her way forward to have that epic battle scene to recover a village but her single mindedness and her inability to work with a team was too much. She compromised her ragtag team’s safety several times because of her muleheadedness and this was inexcusable. She was raised as a warrior of her people but this also meant she should play well with others.

I thought the actual MVP of Wonder Woman was Chris Pine, although at first I was on the fence about his casting. Steve was charming, very very very patient, upright and smart. He was able to convey his vulnerability with is eyes every single time and this softness perfectly complemented Diana’s steel. I loved his character. Way to raise the banner of Team Mankind.

While I am very impressed with Wonder Woman as a whole, I would have to say that DC still needs to work on going overboard with the dramatics. The final scenes would have been epic but because it backpedaled to its Man of Steel weakness, it turned out to be quite cheesy — a bit of the letdown given what happened to Steve. Wonder Woman really chose the wrong time to go drama queen, and even though she won the battle, it still felt like a loss.

Still, it was a great addition to the franchise, complete with a ton of references to previous and upcoming DC films — the connection to Batman and the clues to Justice League. The film also managed to depict Wonder Woman’s weapons, which seemed funny in the animation and previous versions, as badass tools to get the job done.

All in all, DC is well on its way to perfecting its formula for its next offerings. I have a guess that with the addition of Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa to the franchise, they will play off the dark and brooding energies that its two main superheroes Superman and Batman have already displayed. Oh, and Wonder Woman doesn’t need to prove herself in upcoming installments, she kicked the boys asses with this movie, for sure.